The One That Got Away...And Thank Goodness!

Is there someone from your romantic past who broke your heart, but now you realized you dodged a bullet? I thought of mine today.

His name was Mike. It was the summer of 1988. I was 22 years old, in my fourth year working for a computer systems manufacturer contracted by the DoD. He was a mechanical engineer who worked for another company; his company did some subcontracting for us, and I met him at work. He was 24.

I adored everything about him. His looks, his smile, his voice; even his slightly geeky engingeer's way of dressing. He was a very serious person, but he seemed to appreciate my humor and lightness. On our first "date," we went to lunch at the plant cafeteria. For our second date, he came to dinner at my house. He brought a bottle of wine, but I didn't have a corkscrew. When he produced one from his pocket, I was quite impressed. I was so bowled over by him, EVERYTHING impressed me.

We saw each other all summer. At the end of the summer, his company transferred their operations to Huntsville, AL, and Mike was moving with them. He broke it off with me. I tried to convince myself he was breaking it off because of the move, but that wasn't true. He told me flat out that he wasn't in love with me, and while he enjoyed my company, he couldn't see us having a future together. I was heartbroken.

His company continued to do subcontract work for us, so he and his group travelled back to St. Paul fairly often for a week or two at a time, and we still saw each other during those times, albeit on a much more casual level. Mike was careful to keep me at arm's length, probably realizing that I'd build up my hopes again with the slightest encouragement.

On one of those visits, the talk turned to the upcoming election. Mike was absolutely horrified to learn I would not be voting for George H.W. Bush. It had never occurred to me to ask about his politics before, and having grown up surrounded by Democrats, I just assumed most people around me were Democrats, despite the years under Reagan. Mike was actually angry about my stance. I'll never forget his words:

"How can you possibly work for a defense contractor and support the Democrats? How can you? They want to shut us down!"

Of course they Democrats did not want to shut us down, and that bit of hyperbole should have been a clue to me.

Eventually, Mike stopped coming north, I stopped trying to light a fire where there was no spark, and before too long we lost touch. I heard from him once in 1994 - he was still living in Alabama, had married, and had two children. There has been no contact since, and I really don't care.

Looking back, remembering some of the things he said and some of the attitudes he had, I would guess he's gone full-blown Freeper by now. I'm certain he supported Junior in 2000 and again this year.

And so once again: THANK GOODNESS he got away from my naive 22-year-old self!

a number of times.

I guess I just didn't do it for him, and at the time I was so upset.
We hung out at the dorms from time to time, and at around 2-3 sometimes we'd go over to the school store to get ice cream or just wander around.

He was always charming...never tried anything romantic or dangerous with me. I told a roommate (who had a boyfriend) that I dug him, and she started messing around with him--kind of fizzled out after that.

A year later, I had transferred, and I heard from a friend that he wasn't there either that semester because apparently he was in jail for rape. :scared: